THE US MEDICAL technology, data and analytics firm Merative, formerly IBM Watson Health, is set to lay off around one hundred of its Irish staff, The Journal understands.
In mid-August, roughly 250 Dublin-based workers at the company received an email notifying them that their positions were at risk. The company has not yet announced which employees are going to lose their jobs.
The same email also informed them that there would be a vote held to elect representatives from among them to liaise with management during the redundancy process.
It’s understood that the vote has been held and that seven representatives have been elected. So far, there appears to be no union involved.
The Journal also understands that minister for enterprise, trade and employment Simon Coveney has received a letter from Merative notifying him of the planned layoffs.
“Merative is considering a proposal to undertake further cost reduction efforts,” the email sent to employees last month read.
“This is one of many difficult but necessary steps we are taking to ensure the long-term health of our business for our clients and the people they serve. Unfortunately, this may result in a number of headcount redundancies in Ireland.”
Founded in 2022 after investment fund Francisco Partners bought IBM’s healthcare data and analytics assets, Merative is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan and has a second branch in Dublin city centre.
The company describes itself as “a data and software partner for health and government social services”.
Merative employees between 2,000 and 3,000 people globally, roughly 400 of whom work in Ireland.
The firm recently announced its plans to open three “global capability and innovation centres” in India, which is where The Journal understands the Irish-based jobs are likely to be moved.
As well as catering to the healthcare industry, Merative provides software services like Cúram, a system for processing social welfare details that was originally developed in Ireland while the company was still owned by IBM.
At the time of writing, Merative had not responded to requests for comment.
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Vote no!
If you vote against the whip you are banned from any meaningful participation in government. As seen previously in this fail.
Now get rid of the other potential thorn in the side for government, the Seanad.
So much for supporting the survival of business, unemployed.
People are right, this will be defeated in Dail and there is nothing we will be able to do then about it.
I’m voting NO
All I keep hearing is we cut the Seanad we save 20million a year what about the 3billion in cuts coming down the track. The government have timed this referendum very well to distract the Irish people from bigger issues. I will be voting to keep the Seanad alive and well tomorrow as the whole thing stinks of an alternative agenda.
Last sting of a dying wasp?
Even if the abolition of the Seanad is passed on Friday, this current Seanad has another 3 years left. Hardly a last sting.
Congrats, wit your petulant vote, you have helped make my mind up.
There was me thinking that the question on upward only rentals was pretty important for business survival.
Shows how useless they are, voting to prove a point as opposed to voting to pass a bill that could only be a good thing. Demonstrates a complete lack of awareness
So you think keeping upward only rent reviews is a good thing?
You’d want to examine your own lack of awareness
Ya dumbass, the bill that Quinn was trying to get passed was to ban upward only rent. Read the article.
Try reading the article again Kevin
Ya u dumbass Kevin, fergal Quinn is in opposition, he brought the bill to the Seanad the gov were opposing the bill…. Ie to keep upward only rent reviews, the gov were defeated which means the bill was passed in the Seanad…. A good thing!!
I take it all back, I am da dumbass, just read the article agaib
G’wan Kev!
I love dumbassery in the morning.
Well, fair play for admitting a mistake. A rare but noble quality on the interwebs. Well done, Kevin.
‘But it’ll probably pass in the dail anyway due to the government majority’
Shows what a waste of time the Seanad is
Or shows how much of a joke the whipped Dail is
spot on Whelan, we need more checks and balances, the only thing that needs to be abolished is the whip system, then we should to begin to decentralize power more an let the seanad have more of a say and more stopping power but only if the elitism is taking out of the seanad
wouldn’t taking elitism out of the seanad entail putting a greater amount of trust and power onto the dail, which is chose by the general (not too intelligent) population of ireland? The whole point of the seanad is that it represents the intelligence of the country, and vetos bills that may infringe on civil liberties that the general population would never see coming by voting for the corrupt muppets we have in the dail… it should be given more power, and less members of the house should be appointed by political parties within the dail. It should be a completely separate entity.
Goes to show what a waste of time and money tomorrow’s referendum is. Abolition changes nothing.
It shows how effective the Government’s strangle on the Dáil is. We can predict before the bill even goes there what the outcome will be. And if we vote No tomorrow, it’s only the Dáil we’ll be left with. One house strangled by the Government, where everything is sewn up by a few before the question even comes to the floor.
Some “parliament”!
This has made my mind up on Seanad referendum. I was going to vote no because I thought they had a function, but the bill just goes back to be debated in the dail and passed there with govt majority!
The referendum is to abolish the seanad, voting no means you don’t agree. ??
Sorry, I have it cleared in my head now. .
We need to reform the seanad. Not abolish it. Election promises were made to reform both the dail and seanad. They went the way of all other promises. down the swanee river.
A lot of people seem to think that voting yes and abolishing the Seanad is a way of giving the political establishment ‘one in the eye’….and it’s being pitched that way (by FG, fer gawd sakes…THINK about that). But if you stop assuming that and give it some thought it’s the other way round.
It’s actually you who’s being lured in for a sucker punch from behind.
Even more seem to be voting no to give Enda Kenny a black eye. The greatest success of the no campaign has been to make this about Enda Kenny.
Colin,
It’s not about Enda, it’s about what his party is trying to do. Degrading democracy is at the core, and my hope is the people will vote No to reject these proposals.
Colin C……that isn’t the ideal reason for people to vote ‘no’, but if there’s anyone who does deserve a shiner it’s Enda Kenny.
And tomorrow the people get to defeat the Seanad and end the elitism of the likes of Quinn et al
I take it all back, I am da dumbass, just read it again, apologies nelligan
If Quinn (Fergal, not Ruairí) is one of the elite, I’ll take him over the likes of Kenny, Gilmore, Martin or Adams any day of the week.
remember folks its about more than closing the seanad..a lot changes will be made to the constitution as well…
i would like to keep the right to vote on european treaties for example..if in doubt..vote no.
Oh not the ‘we will lose our vote on European treaties’ nonsense again. Sigh. That myth is trotted out all the time. The Seanad vote has nothing whatsoever to do with referendums on EU treaties. We vote on EU treaties because they need a constitutional amendment, and constitutional amendments needs a referendum. The referendum on the Seanad has nothing whatsoever to do with changing the rules on constitutional amendments and so does not make any change whatsoever in how we adopt EU treaties.
You’ll still have the right to vote on European treaties regardless of the result. None of the referendums we have had were because of article 27.
oh really Guys,,, why didn’t we have a vote on the ESM treaty then,,, and yes it will cost us 11.1 billion euro,,,, answer that one
@Jim Duffy But what about the fact that the Government’s intend to delete Article 29, without which we lose our ability to hold referendums on proposed EU treaties, as well as any say we may have in the ridiculous continuing EU expansion project and opening ourselves up to the likelihood of being stripped of the ability to determine our own corporate tax rate?
This is just one of seven Articles that will be deleted and also I think that 39 other Articles will be amended in some fashion if we vote yes to abolish the Seanad.
This whole abolition nonsense came out of nowhere when Kenny was desperate for a hard hitting soundbite.
Perhaps it might also be worth considering that there is another agenda being pushed on behalf of our EU masters to ensure that us stupid peasants do not get above our station again and dare vote against any future proposed treaties.
Because it didn’t need a constitutional amendment. We only have referendums where the constitutional amendment. Where an EU treaty makes changes not covered by the existing constitution then that requires an amendment and that means a referendum.
@jim
what will the” existing constitution ” look like when the articles in question are removed ?
Article 29 is not being deleted. All that is being changed is in section 4. The change reads “In section 4, the substitution, in subsections 7° and 8°, of “ó Dháil Éireann” for “ó dhá 40 Theach an Oireachtais”. In other words, it replaces ‘Houses of the Oireachtas’ by ‘Dáil Éireann’ as there would no longer be ‘Houses of the Oireachtas’ if the Seanad is abolished.
You may mean Article 27. Article 27 also has nothing whatsoever to do with EU treaties. It provides for a legislative referendum where the Dáil and Seanad disagree on a bill and petition the President to refer the bill to the people. The power has never ever been used and would be pointless to keep. It is designed to deal with a conflict between the Dáil and Seanad. But if there is no Seanad there would be no conflict. So the power would instantly become obsolete.
EU treaties result from amendments to the constitution, and they are necessitated by Article 46. All that is being changed in Article 46 is, again, to replace ‘houses of the Oireachtas’ by ‘Dail Éireann’ as there no longer would be houses (plural).
Oh and BTW the proposal to abolish the Seanad had nothing whatsoever to do with the EU. The idea didn’t come from there. It came from policy staff working for Enda Kenny’s office who reviewed the constitution. They reviewed the Seanad and found it fatally flawed, unworkable and unfixable and impossible to justify at a time when other useless institutions and organisations in government were being scrapped or merged.
You can read the actual bill at http://www.oireachtas.ie/documents/bills28/bills/2013/6313/b63a13d.pdf from page 12. You can look through the list yourself and see Article 29 is not being deleted, nor is Article 46. All that are being made are technical changes to replace the collective title ‘Houses of the Oireachtas’ by the singular ‘Dáil Éireann’.
Nothing in the bill in any way, shape or form, changes the rules on how Ireland adopts EU treaties. Every treaty that up to now needed a referendum will continue to need a referendum.
What is this referendum costing the irish tax payer? what a waste of money!
That’s lies Jim and you know it !!
It is basic constitutional law.
The same as the existing one minus references to the Seanad. Removing some articles is quite normal in constitutions worldwide as needs change. Articles 49, 59A, of the German Basic Law (constitution) were deleted, as were Articles 78-87 and Title XVII of the French Constitution. The abolition of the Oath of Allegiance in the Free State constitution listed 16 articles that were “wholly deleted”.
Jim,
You know that the EU treaties carry more weight than the Constitution. Why are you trying to hide that fact?
Wrong. They ONLY carry more weight that the constitution where we authorise them on a case-by-case to do so through a constitutional amendment. That is the reality all over Europe. That is why countries need to amend constitutions, to give constitutional authorisation and status to the contents of a treaty. If they carried more weight than a constitution no country will need to amend their constitution. They all do.
Jim,
I disagree – “The supremacy (sometimes referred to as primacy) of EU law is a principle by which the laws of European Union member states that conflict with laws of the European Union must be ignored by national courts so that the European Union law can take effect. The legal doctrine emerged from the European Court of Justice through a number of decisions.” – I’m lazy and assuming wikipedia is good enough for you.
You are mixing a host of different things, from EU law to statute law to constitutional law and thinking they are all one. They aren’t. Irish constitutional law is not inferior to EU law. Neither is French constitutional law, German constitutional law, Italian constitutional law or anything else. Supremacy only exists in small limited areas constitutionally where that supremacy has been authorised under an amendment to Article 29. That is why we have referendums on EU treaties, to authorise extended competencies. As for Wikipedia as a source: are you joking? Even Jimbo Wales says people should not use it as a source but verify everything in it, and he created the thing.
Jim,
You’re choosing to eat the elephant one piece at at time, I see it as an endangered species.
Government and Justice are inextricably linked in any democracy.
Irish Constitutional Law does not take precedence over EU law, you can take your fingers out of your ears on that one. Because of the Treaties which we have constiutionally ratified, that actually is the state of play. Watch carefully proposals to further incorporate the Convention on Human Rights into the EU Courts Jurisdiction.
Still wrong. EU law ONLY takes priority in the specific areas authorised by constitutional amendments. It is limited to those areas. It is not a blanket supremacy but a limited authorised supremacy in specific areas.
I disagree Jim,
You seem to be giving the impression that Ireland can both have it’s cake and eat it with regard to EU membership.
Yeah … Coincidence I’m sure … Bye bye
Like a crowd of donkeys after winning a raffle…
I can’t believe people want to take my vote away from me, it’s undemocratic I tell ye
The government has spearheaded a very successful campaign to sway the public over to the abolitionists camp. Their campaign is essentially based on two arguments. One is that the Seanad performs no real function and has not done so for many decades. The other is that it will save the country 20 million euro in salaries and expenses that can’t be justified by virtue of the first argument.
In a time when a majority of the population are angry over the financial state of the country and the impacts it has had personally on them, these are two powerful stimuli. The most dangerous arguments are those which appeal to emotion and make no mistake these are emotive arguments. The people of this country are rightly frustrated and angry at those whom first of all are perceived to be causes of the economic melt down and secondly the money that they are earning.
Before deciding on the fate of the Seanad I implore you to briefly consider why it is there in the first place. The senate is a safeguard of your rights and is there to keep in check, the legislature of the day by deliberating the bills they seek to pass into law. It is there to ensure that a legislature has someone to answer to and protect you from those who would seek to dilute or revoke your rights.
Since this government has come to power, it has successfully sought to subtly remove the safeguards in our constitution that protect your rights as a free citizen. The 29th amendment two years ago was again a campaign led by the government and passed by the people on the emotive basis that judges were being paid too much and that the government had no power to change their pay. The reason the government was given no authority over the pay of judges is that the legislature and the judiciary are two entirely separate arms of government and for the people to be safe, the former should never have any control over the latter. In other words, if you control the pay, you control the man.
The pay of judges and the cost of the Seanad are insignificant sums in the overall budget. These are crucial, crucial safeguards. We’ve lost one, let’s not loose another because ultimately it is our choice. If the brakes on your car are broken, you don’t rip them out because they’re costing you a little bit of money, you fix them.
I would ask you to consider your vote. Keep the Seanad, demand it’s reform
Thanks Killian.
Thanks, very well put.
Maybe here should be an annual referendum to abolish the senate so that these guys are kept on their toes. Why has it taken until now for them to consider that their jobs were about more than just drawing a salary and setting a platform for Dáil election.
This is just the Turkeys kicking up about Christmas. Sorry Turkeys!
Senator Feargal Quinn introduces a bill to ban upward only rent reviews which the government has been unable to address itself because of fears over its compliance with the Constitution, even though it were a stated element of Enda’s election promises.
Yet the Government can introduce a property tax bill & make it an Act even though it excludes joint ownership properties from being taxed in proportion to the percentage of ownership of the property. Even though the Government were aware prior to publishing the bill that courts would have to decide if this is in compliance with the Constitution.
It seems the Government makes up one set of rules for commercial property owners but then apply a different set of rules for private property owners.
Enda Kenny says vote yes!!!!!! …… I vote NO
These next two days are ones that worry me over the direction this country will be heading in democratically. Last nights debate what agonizing. First off, two failed politicians try and up the anti on the No side which is a certain death nell; one wannabe who attracted more praise from the Vincent Panel for genda quota and presence rather than what was said, ( and who will prove characteristically the same as Gilmore one in office) and one Mr Bruton who I wouldn’t by a used car off because he’d lie about the mileage. And these FG guys want more power to shape the world. They should be disgraced for not providing an option (c) reform – but turkey’s don’t vote for Christmas do they.
Fergal Quinn was the guy who wanted to abolish the minimum wage. He is really looking out for the little people.
GET IN!!!!!!!!!!!!
I dont trust anything surrounding this referendum.
There is (as always) an agenda other than the one being set out.
Insidious at best.
Traitorous at least.
Madge
Why did you inflict such nauseating rubbish on us at this hour of the day? You must be shirt a hobby or two!.
Richie,
I worry tat the next agenda for the committees you work on will contain items about how to quash dissent.
* that
have your say